This Dog's Life: Wendy Diamond's Maltese Has a Meltdown

By all accounts, Wendy Diamond’s rescued Maltese pup, Lucky, is one of the, um, luckiest dogs around. Ms. Diamond, an avid animal rights activist and Huffington Post’s animal-issues columnist, saved the pint-sized cur in 1999, and the two are have been practically inseparable ever since. The pampered pooch has her own twitter account (ghostwritten by her owner) and is a frequent celebrity guest on canine-related programming

The Transom wasn’t terribly surprised to see both Wendy and Lucky at the Happy Hearts Fund’s Haiti gala this weekend, as the social scenesters make a point of seeing and being seen (and duly photographed) at events around the city. Ms. Diamond (the human) had unloaded Lucky upon a hapless Huffington Post reporter who was carrying the dog around in a Ralph Lauren carrier. Despite the designer digs, Lucky did not seem a happy camper.

The HuffPo scribe (now handler) holding Lucky was charged with the thankless task of asking celebrities what they thought about the animal life in Haiti. “Umm, I don’t really think that there’s that much animal life in Haiti,” one Haitian guest responded, looking confused. The hostess of the evening, Petra Nemcova pointed out that “There’s starving children in Haiti, I’m really not worried about the animal life.”

Lucky, apparently having heard the species-ist comment, growled and tried to nip her hand, much to the horror of her novice minder. “She’s been in here a long time,” he said apologetically, as Ms. Nemcova gave a slightly disconcerted smile.

As flash bulbs continued to flicker, Lucky Diamond grew inconsolable. The reporter ran the gamut of typical tricks, stroking her head, giving her treats, and ultimately just whispering shhhhhhhhh whenever she barked. Onlooking photographers began to gossip, as they are wont to do, about the sorry dog. “He looks mangy,” one said. (At press time, Lucky could not be reached for comment.)

Soon, two young girls came and, as true socialites-in-the-making, asked the Huffington Post to photograph them with Lucky. A momentary look of horror flashed across the reporter’s face, but what could he do? He was holding a four-legged celebrity in high demand! Carefully handing the dog over to the girls, he was visibly nervous as Lucky posed for her close-up. Clearly glad to be out of the carrier, however, Lucky behaved herself and finally quieted down.

We went into the main room and took our seat, leaving the poor pooch to her own devices.